The Need Only Grows at our RESTORE Food Bank
We continue to operate the RESTORE Food Bank as a service to our neighbors who are struggling during the tough economic times of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Our client base has grown more than 50% over the past few weeks. During a typical week, we provide bags of food to 160-180 area families from a tent bordering our back church parking lot.
We operate the RESTORE Food Bank on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 AM until noon (or until there are no more automobiles). From 9:30 onward, cars line up in a line that stretches around our parking lot and occasionally out to Riverview Drive. Because we must conform with USDA guidelines, each family is only allowed to come by no more frequently than every seven days. Each client must provide identification and must be checked off against our master list. Many of the cars that go by our tent include more than one family, each of whom must be individually registered.
Once their participation has been validated, each family will receive the following:
1. A paper bag containing can goods and staples, one meat, one loaf of bread, and one pastry or dessert.
2. A carton of eggs or milk or orange juice, depending upon what is available on that day.
3. Other food items that have been generously donated by our grocery stores, local vendors, our neighboring ECHO South County food bank, the Rice Creek Mobile Home Park Association, South Shore United Methodist Church or individuals and families.
In conformance with social distancing guidelines, our clients no longer leave their cars. We place groceries and perishable food stuffs into the trunks of their cars, and allow them to drive away.
On Tuesdays, our food deliveries also include bag lunches provided by our partners at Metropolitan Ministries. On Thursdays, we also pass out surplus pizzas from our local Pizza Hut.
We have lost many RESTORE Food Bank volunteers over the last few weeks, many due to health fears. Also, many of our senior volunteers have been pressed into duty as temporary daycare and home schoolers by their families. So, if you have been considering a relatively safe activity to get out of the house and help your community, now might be a good time for you to consider becoming a food bank volunteer! We need people to distribute food, to pick up food from our many suppliers, and to pack bags for delivery on Mondays and Wednesdays. Won’t you come join our happy band and make a difference?
Online Service, 05/24/2020
Happy Memorial Day Weekend
Online Giving at RUMC
Giving online is easy and allows you to set up automatic recurring contributions and view your complete online giving history from anywhere you have access to the Internet. Or you can enter one-time contributions from the internet or by smart phone.
To get started, simply follow these easy steps:
- Click on the Online Giving button below. This will take you to our church’s online giving webpage.
- Click on our Create Profile button on that webpage.
- Follow the onscreen instructions to create an online profile and to schedule your recurring or one-time contributions.
Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, Sunday Services and Wednesday Worship Activities have been suspended until further notice.
Rev. Louis Telcy, Pastor
Norma Encarnacion, Lay Pastor, Hispanic Congregationn
Here at Riverview First United Methodist Church, it is our mission to win people to Christ, to train believers to become disciples, and to send disciples to impact our community and the world for Jesus Christ.
8002 U. S. Highway 301 South, Riverview, FL 33578 813-677-5995
Download the Prayer Tree for
May 24, 2020 from this link.
Download the May, 2020
Bell Newsletter from this link.
Our Online Church
Our physical church is still closed. We continue to follow national and state social distancing guidelines and stay-at-home orders during this COVID-19 pandemic. However, we are looking forward with great expectation to our reopening. The Florida United Methodist Conference has dictated that inside services should not be held until after June 15th. In anticipation of a mid-June opening, we have begun stockpiling masks, gloves, forehead thermometers and alcohol-intensive hand sanitizers.
Meanwhile, we are continuing to make available weekly service videos for online viewing. These include a message from our pastor, the Rev. Louis Telcy, and favorite selections from our praise band.
We have re-started our Wednesday Evening Bible Study using the ZOOM application to gather online. Last week, eight of us successfully connected between 6:30 PM and 7:30 PM on Wednesday evening. Contact Connie Mosley or the webmaster if you want to join our merry band of Bible Study students. On this coming Wednesday, we will begin to explore the Epistle of James with the guidance of Pastor Louis.
On the website, as always, you will also see a link that will allow you to send in your tithes and offerings electronically; if you prefer to send your tithes and offerings by mail, please send them to:
Riverview First United Methodist Church
8002 U. S. Highway 301 South
Riverview, FL 33578
We have added a Community Bulletin Board to the Website for members of our congregation and community. If you want to let everyone know how you are doing during this pandemic, you are welcome to send a message, and it will be posted on the Community Page Bulletin Board.
Remember – God loves you, and so do we!
Pastor Louis Telcy
Care Committee
Worship Committee
PASTOR TELCY CAN BE REACHED IN AN EMERGENCY AT (239)682-7333.
Bible Passage of the Week
Faith in Action
Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?
I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, “Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, and I’ll handle the works department.”
Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.
James 2:14-18 (The Message)
RUMC Online Service, 4/19/2020
RUMC Online Service, 4/26/2020
RUMC Online Service, 05/03/2020
RUMC Online Mother's Day Service,
05/10/2020
A Word from the
Florida United Methodist
Children’s Home
The Fifth Sunday offering was created in 1906 as a way to fund the creation of what is now the Florida United Methodist Children’s Home. That tradition continues to this day. Fifth Sunday offerings from churches throughout the Conference fund the ongoing daily operations in caring for the abused, abandoned and neglected children that we serve. Now that many churches are not meeting for traditional worship service, individuals like yours can still make a special Fifth Sunday offering to support the Florida UM Children’s Home.
Over the past few months, COVID-19 has wreaked absolute havoc on our communities, our state, our nation, and everywhere around the world. This pandemic has impacted not only those who have directly battled with the effects of the disease, but also those who have experienced fear, anxiety, and worry that the disease will impact their lives, their financial security, and their families. Here at the Children’s Home, we have experienced that same fear, anxiety, and worry.
May 31st will soon be here, and it is a Fifth Sunday. While you may not be in church on that Sunday, you can still make a special gift, either through your church’s online giving portal or directly by mailing your contribution to the Florida United Methodist Children’s Home, 51 Children’s Way, Enterprise, FL 32725.
Your support of the Children’s Home’s ministry will go a long way toward providing a space where out children don’t have to carry their burdens alone. Here, at the Home, they can experience first-hand the tangible presence of Christ. Please consider making a special contribution to the Children’s Home today. Thank you for your prayers and support!
Elisabeth Gadd,
Chief Development Officer
Florida UM Children’s Home
RUMC Online Service, 05/17/2020
